Editorial

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1This new issue of the Bulletin presents articles by two doctoral recipients of Center scholarships, as well as an article by an established researcher who has recently joined us.

2In her article Functional Studies of Prehistoric Grindingstones: a Methodological Research, Laure Dubreuil – the recipient of the Lavoisier 2000-2001 scholarship – presents methodological considerations on grindingstone material. After an overview citing examples from various parts of the world, she describes her experiments in her particular field, the Natufian.

3Cédric Parizot has devoted much time and effort to his study of Bedouins, a group of 120,000 individuals who are Israeli but above all nomads and fairly reticent as regards urbanization yet edging slowly towards the end of tribalism. The tribe will only have symbolic relevance; by contrast, there is growing communitarization and sharper ethnicization. The Bedouins apparently serve at times as go-betweens with the Palestinians, with whom they have developed closer ties.

4Sossie Andezian, who has just published an excellent monograph on Algerian women and religion1 presents a major project on the Armenian quarter of Jerusalem, which has existed since the fifth century. This fascinating topic is part of a larger survey launched by the CRFJ on the sedimentation of Jerusalem communities (covering the French, German, Russian, and Ethiopian communities, while awaiting a Greek speaking researcher), which should result in an improbable atlas of this city with a hundred faces.

5Finally the Bulletin includes two accounts of conferences whose themes have long been Center specialties: the Natufian (C. Delage2) and Europe in the Middle East (D. Trimbur).

6Despite the political climate, which is far from conducive to research for either the Center or for our colleagues from the two opposing communities, we have hosted doctoral students (Claire Le Foll, Vincent Lemire) as well as established researchers (Marc Sagnol, Olivier Tourny, Martine Chemana, Gilles Dorival, Jean Louis Fabiani) to pursue their work in Jerusalem. The CRFJ held a conference on June 6 and 7, 2001 on “Uses of the Past in the Jewish World and in Jerusalem” in conjunction with the Centre Universitaire d’Études Juives at Aix en Provence. Following Charles Josselin, Minister of Cooperation, it was Jack Lang, the Minister of National Education who honored us at an evening in the gardens of the Center to celebrate his doctorate honoris causa from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

7In these difficult times, the CRFJ is delighted to congratulate one of its researchers, Florence Heyman, who brilliantly defended her Ph.D. at the EHESS on October 5, 2001, entitled “Le crépuscules des lieux. L’identité des Juifs de Cernowitz” (911 pp., two volumes) before a jury presided by Lucette Valensi, and composed of Nicole Lapierre (the doctoral advisor), Annette Wieviorka, Isac Chiva and Jean Baumgarten. In addition to being awarded her Ph.D. with distinction, she was unanimously commended by the jury. Lastly I would like to thank Eva Telkes for preparing this Bulletin and the Cultural Affairs and Cooperation Department of the French Embassy in Tel Aviv for its support.